I’ve apparently got Spotify Lossless as a UK-based Premium subscriber – in that Lossless now appears as an option in my media quality settings – and I have to say I’m a bit perplexed. When I play a song on my phone it appears marked as Lossless. However, when I use Spotify Connect to play the same song on either my Sonos Play 5 speakers or my Bluesound Node streamer, the file quality is described as “Very High 320 kbps 0.14 GB/hr”. Again, the media quality settings show Lossless quality ticked when I just have my phone as the speaker but greyed out when using one of other devices via Connect. My internet speeds seem pretty good – 1137.95 mbps averaged over the last 3 months. So, it’s a bit of a mystery.
Anyone else tried it yet?
Anyone tried Spotify Lossless yet?
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I’m not a Spotify user but I am curious to hear users experience with their new lossless tier. It tops out at 24bit 44.1 kHz as far as I know which is ample tbh. Maybe the issue you’re experiencing with Sonos and Bluesound is due to neither of those manufacturers having updated their respective hardware to be able to utilise lossless files from Spotify yet. It’s taken Lenbrook ( Bluesound ) months to update their devices to be Qobuz Connect ready so you may have a bit of a wait. Some hardware manufacturers aren’t quick over these matters. I’m only speculating over this though and may be wide of the mark.
I just checked on the Bluesound forum and they have announced that Spotify Connect is live and working with them. Reading further down there seems to be some confusion as to how it works in practice. Someone suggested logging out of the device on Spotify Connect and logging back in. I’ve done this and it seems to have done the trick. However, the file quality is 16 bit/44.1 kHz, and not 24 for the couple of albums I’ve looked at (Steely Dan’s ‘Gaucho’ and Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’). I believe 16 bit is CD quality which is fine for me as I’m not interested in audio on the hi-res spectrum personally.
And I’ve just tried the same approach on Sonos but apparently they are not rolling out compatibility with Spotify Lossless until October.
16 bit 44.1 kHz is indeed CD redbook. All the 24 bit means is that that is the maximum rate for Spotify Lossless, it doesn’t mean every file will be 24 bit. It’s dependent upon what file(s) are being sent to Spotify for streaming. It makes zero difference to sound quality in the wild.
Appears to be working with Wiim. (Obvs, can’t tell the difference.)
Thanks. I’ve just tried Spotify Lossless for the first time on my Bluesound setup and it sounded great. I then tried the same track (‘Babylon Sisters’) using Tidal Connect which was Max quality (24-bit/192 kHz) and to these (admittedly ancient) ears I couldn’t really discern any difference in audio quality.
There isn’t that much of a discernable difference tbh. It is present but SQ is dependent upon so many variables it isn’t worth losing any sleep over. CD redbook quality is all you need 99% if not 100% of the time. I don’t bother checking any of that malarkey anymore. If I’m enjoying the music then that’s all I need.
I’m Uk based with premium Spotify, but I still don’t have the Lossless option.
Do you have to perform some kind of update on the app or does it just appear automatically?
It’s worth checking any app updates but I believe the lossless quality option just appeared on my Spotify app yesterday. Check under Settings / Media Quality.
Thanks @jazzjet – it’s actually appeared now.
@native it should be in settings and then under audio quality – options for download and stream.
I had a play on Saturday with my iphone and a standard wired connector to a my Sony 1000xm4’s – in the front room.
Yes I could hear detail (the synth parts on Heart of Glass, percussion on Stay) I wasn’t aware of on tracks I know well.
But I am guessing you need to be listening in a quiet space, wired connection and either really good speakers/amp or good headphones to hear the difference.
Plan on giving it a try tonight with B&W PX7 S3 headphones, wired to my iPad. Will be interesting to see if it is an improvement on Apple Music’s lossless.
Seems to be not as good. A geek explains ….